This magnificent collection of beautiful color photos of Christmastime thorughout Connecticut is sure to bring back
memories. Also for those who wonder if Connecticut is really
as special and magical as its made to be in the movies. Yes-
of course it is! ...and the photos in this book will show
you why Christmastime in Connecticut has inspired movies!
HINT: Best when read next to the fireplace or tucked into bed
with a cup of tea.

This is a very readable and extensively researched look at the trees of Washington D.C. It's an excellent field guide for identifying trees, but the thing I like most about it is that it tells the fascinating stories behind so many of the trees planted in D.C. If you live near D.C. and have even a mild interest in its history, I strongly recommend this book!

Line illustrations of lighthouses, seashores, rolling meadows and New England scenes enhance Coastal New England Summertime Cooking, a superbly presented collection of recipes for summertime meals and treats. From Asparagus and Pine Nut Salad; Brandied Shrimp Scampi; and Layered Lobster Provencal; to Herbed Cauliflower; Chocolate Boston Cream Pie; and Fresh Lemonade Syrup, Coastal New England Summertime Cooking will prove a much appreciated and welcome culinary reference for delicious and nutritious meal time planning.

This collection is well worth the price of admission. Not only is this an attractively packaged title with a dustjacket you could hang on a wall, the stories themselves -- most from the late 19th Century -- pack a punch despite the passage of time.

Buy and enjoy!

This is a well written and informative book that brilliantly details many of the wonderful things Connecticut has to offer. A++++

Truly one of the best instructional/reference books on early American country style furniture published in the last 50 years. Although the book covers some basics it is more geared to the intermediate to advanced skilled craftsman. It features over 250 pages of detailed text, illustrations and diagrams. The book has over 300 detailed pencil drawings by the author and has wonderful instruction and history of country furniture craft technique.

What other state can claim as many notable small towns as does the Empire State? Cooperstown, Lake Placid, Sleepy Hollow, Woodstock, Watkins Glen, Chautauqua, Corning, Saratoga Springs, West Point, Oyster Bay, several Hamptons, Ticonderoga, Seneca Falls-- Norman Rockwell (who lived a short walk across the state line) might just have been a tad jealous. Only the first and last make it into this book, and just as well. When Country Roads Press sends America's top small-town journalist through America's top small-town state, you don't want to waste him on places you already know.

Bill Kauffman (of Batavia and Elba) has milked a career out of keeping the leaders of the land's great Lost Causes from, as he puts it, "going down the memory hole", in books such as America First! and With Good Intentions, and in frequent pieces in The Wall Street Journal, American Enterprise, Chronicles, Liberty and other magazines. Here he applies the same special talent to a "second tier" of New York villages, and one wonders if he chose these particular communities for an unusual richness in odd stories and characters, or whether he'd have dug these up anywhere he went.

Kauffman's at his best at home in the western snout of the state, where he unlocks the somewhat feudal nature of Geneseo, LeRoy and Angelica. (The obscurer the town, the more fun he has with it.) The pump industry of Seneca Falls, a quarter of the world's total, gets as much of his attention as the distaff business there. And why not? Sanitation has saved more lives than medicine. Hundreds of millions owe their lives to this important town, celebrated for the all the wrong reasons.

His subjects have given us three presidents, Mormonism, women's suffrage and colored gelatin, but if there's something else of note in town, Bill'l let us know. (And if it's in the next town over, he'll cheat and go there.)

Further afield Kauffman's more the tourist, especially across the "soda/pop" line, which is not as close to the city as he imagines. Cooperstown is not quite as cute as he paints it-- indeed, one of its charms is the relative lack of the boutique pollution that has ruined many similar places. And couldn't he find a "country town" left on Long Island? That in itself is sad. However, his analysis of the Burned-Over District is so sharp it will inspire the reader to try his hand at the built-over districs as well.

Finally, some things to look for which aren't in the book (and may no longer exist):

Westfield-- the weird, wing-shaped Theatre Motel and Drive-In on the lake;

Bath (in the Hammondsport chapter)-- the Chat-a-Wyle Café and its grape pie;

Palmyra-- where Winston Churchill's grandparents married, perhaps not in one of the four churches at the intersection;

Oneonta (in the Cooperstown chapter)-- the book mentions the NY-P League team there, but check out their Depression-era ballpark in the Susquehanna valley, one of the handsomest settings in all the sport. (And in "Soccertown, USA", no less.)

Some trips are worth taking. Cranberry Smoke is one of them. On a 13 year journey through the cities and towns of Massachusetts, poet Michael Hood explores questions about himself, and questions about the universe. With always an eye for the forgotten, the poor, and the lost, Hood's eloquence evokes emotions of compassion, joy, sorrow, humor, and wonder. It is a book that reminds us of our flaws and our potentials, and the poet's pain and gifts. This is a one-of-a-kind trip, an indepth look at ourselves, in which we emerge bruised but not broken, and infinitely better as people. - Joseph Gustafson

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